A Roaming Scientist Looks at 45

Elephant Head is a full day hike to a large flat summit in the northern Absaroka Mountains of Montana. The thigh burning final approach of 1500 feet up a loose talus slope is sure to have you aching the next day.

The dirt

Length: ~9 miles roundtrip

Difficulty: advanced

Elevation gain: about 3500 ft

Fun fact: Large flat summit with excellent views down the front range of the Absarokas

Montana is chock full of rodeos in the summer. You can’t back your truck up without hitting one. But if you only have time to go to one rodeo, you should go to the Bucking Horse Sale in Miles City. It’s the rooten’est, tooten’est, well, rodeo.

The BHS is unscripted, loose and wild, not slick new-country. People here actually use their trucks. There’s nary a mullet in site. Ranchers mingle with rodeo promoters looking to complete their stables for the upcoming rodeo season. After every event the bucking broncs and bulls are auctioned off.

You’ll also find a limitless supply of photographers. And they’re there for a good reason — the Bucking Horse Sale is incredibly photogenic (and incredibly phun). Don’t miss you chance to catch a fleeting glimpse of the old west before it turns into a coal-bed methane wasteland.

A parade on Sunday concludes the events with tractors and farm equipment dating back to the turn of last century. It takes a long time for 110+ years of farm implement history to roll down mainstreet. There’s plenty of time to fetch breakfast or a cowboy coffee in the middle without missing too much.